Bedtime Prayer

Lord, thank you for giving me your love and mercy though i be not worthy, Lord, thank you for renewing your grace each and every day, Thank you for your Son who as a man lived and died that I might follow him over the dusty paths crisscrossed by humanity, Thank you for Love, that which binds us, that which reminds us of the goodness that is inherently ours if we embrace it. Thank you for your blessing, for lifting the veil that I might see the Kingdom, Thank you for your Truth, We praise you, We listen to your wisdom that we might know true brotherly love, We act upon your wisdom that we might know your will, We transform, we grow, we lead, we repent, we are one, Laud the Son, Laud the Beatitudes, Laud giving and sharing and forgiving as you taught us, Lord, thank you for giving me your love.

Goodness is Given

If i do something good like helping an old lady cross a busy street, is it my own choice? As a son of Adam, I am born into the human family with a gap separating us from God. Sin, that which separates me from the Creator; sin, all that I say or do, think or fail to do, that which sustains an individual Self separate from the Father; sin, all that I choose to be that is not beneficial to me, harms me, holds me back, keeps me in the dark and living with anxiety and fear. I am helping the lady across the street and she thanks me. I choose to do this and it is good, I think. Ah, but this choice is mine shared with the Holy Spirit, together we do good. If I ignore the woman’s disadvantage or danger, that is my decision alone: from my Self, from a dark place, from a place of separation. When there is love in my actions, there is light and life. He is with me. Where there is an absence of love, He is with me too, yet the fear or selfishness has the upper hand. Thus, if I open myself to more Love, Light and Life, I shall become closer to the very nature of the One. Trusting in the power of the divine, fear fades and I can trust in my own ability to BE that which is good. Though I will sometimes fall, I shall also get up knowing that God’s grace is always with me if I choose to acknowledge it, nay, embrace it! And what other purpose can a man have than to loose his Self to find his true nature? Thank you little old lady in need for granting me the opportunity to shed myself of sin, of selfishness and fear. Thank you Father for your grace and for always standing by my side. And so you both remind me, the chasm that separates each man from his True Home is in his head, all the while Love is in his heart. Deo gratias

The Teacher Warns

The Teacher warned, “Woe to you, Moral Majority, you hypocrites. You are like marble-clad towers, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of greed, egoism, power and every kind of human blindness. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. The Teacher shook his head: Woe to you, bankers, politicians, men of vanity, women of wealth, you hypocrites. You build the monuments to great people and adorn the memorials of the good, and yet you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the great, the good, the decent and the holy’. Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the wise and the compassionate, exemplary people, those walking with the Divine. In blindness and selfishness you shall continue, without wisdom, without compassion, the message of goodness cannot warm your frozen hearts.” adapted from Mt. 23:27-32

Two Commandments

When the jealous men, the self-righteous men, the angry men, the bitter men, when they heard that the Teacher had silenced the arrogant men with his teachings, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the Dhamma, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which word in the Law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love I Am Who Is, Creator, All, One, Life, Light, Grace, Mercy, God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first necessity. The second word is very similar: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The Dhamma and all those on the Path depend on these two truths.” Adapted from Mt. 22:34-40

"A fool is characterized by his/her actions. A wise person is characterized by his/her actions. It's through the activities of one's life that one's discernment shines. "A person endowed with three things is to be recognized as a fool. Which three? Bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, mental misconduct... "A person endowed with three things is to be recognized as a wise person. Which three? Good bodily conduct, good verbal conduct, good mental conduct... "Thus, ladies and gentlemen, you should train yourselves: 'We will avoid the three things that, endowed with which, one is to be recognized as a fool. We will undertake & maintain the three things that, endowed with which, one is to be recognized as a wise person.' That's how you should train yourselves." (adapted from Pali Sutta AN 3.2)

On Transformation

Good people, I do not say that the attainment of faith is all at once. Rather, the attainment of faith is after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice. And how is there the attainment of faith after gradual training, gradual action, gradual practice? There is the case where, when conviction has arisen, one visits a Teacher. Having visited, one grows close. Having grown close, one lends ear. Having lent ear, one hears the Word. Having heard the Word, one remembers it. Remembering, one penetrates the meaning of the teachings. Penetrating the meaning, one comes to an agreement through pondering the teachings. There being an agreement through pondering the teachings, desire arises. When desire has arisen, one is willing. When one is willing, one contemplates. Having contemplated, one makes an exertion. Having made an exertion, one realizes with the body the ultimate truth and, having penetrated it with discernment, sees it, knows it and is forever transformed. (adapted from sutta MN 70 via Access to Insight)

Awash in Doubt

"I sit here on the banks of this river, frittering my days away, good Doctor! I do what is expected of me. I am diligent in my worldly duties, but do no more. Doubt trips up my every progress. It cripples me. Try as i might, and you have given me so many encouraging words already, i fail again and again and again to do what is right and good and worthy of my humanity." The middle-aged man with the fishing rod in hand is not angry, nor is he frustrated. The good Doctor Krishna is now even more concerned.

"As you clearly state, doubt is a hindrance. I have no medicine for this ailment, but i can see that you are suffering," the little brown man says, gazing over the wide stretch of gently flowing water. "The question is, what is lacking?"

"I do not know what you mean, Dr. Krishna?"

"What is holding you back? What is tripping you up? What is missing?"

"I have meditated on this and it is not fear. The goal is believable. The path is worn. All seems to be clear, yet i do not walk the path. I hesitate. I am frozen."

"Hmm," ponders the doctor aloud, squatting down upon the sandy bank to run the tips of his fingers over the surface of the river, "You claim to understand all, but this is an abstraction. You say, for example, that the open sky is blue, yet how do you know this? Have you touched it? Have you tasted it? Has the sky whispered its truth into your ear?"

"You mock me, sir," sighs the fisherman, "Of course not. Everyone knows the sky is blue."

"Because you can see it, yes. But can a blind man know its colour? When it is cloudy, is it still blue? If you will please recall, how you perceive the world through your senses is changeable, variable, never static, rising and then falling away again. Yet, you do not doubt the permanent blueness of the sky."

The two men are now silent. The water passes. Diamonds of light flash, burst and dazzle. The sky above is indeed, very blue. The day grows warmer.

"I trust in the wisdom taught me, but perhaps not enough. Meditation. Prayer. The silence is frightening. My failures in compassion disheartening. The long days of pithy sufferings grow weighty. I miss resolve. The signposts illegible." The insights are spoken tonelessly, as if read from an uninspiring recipe.

"Seek out your teacher to put you back on the path with resolve. Know inner silence with patience and compassion. What more can i say that you do not already know, old friend?" questions the doctor. "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," he quotes, "Do not rely on what your mind and its sensory perceptions would have you believe. Investigate and be critical of all the mind would sell you as truth so that you many see the Truth of this life as it is, beyond the senses, beyond opinions, beyond the mists of personal delusion. Be free, my friend. Shine like the sun for all mankind. Cross this river, friend."

The fisherman cuts the line, lays down the rod and intones the first lines of his well-practised mantra. Doctor Krishna is happy to see the little smile on the other man's face.